Illustrating a menu of insights associated with visualizations

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for generating one or more menus having options that display insights from visualizations. The options presented in the menus enable users to determine relationships between elements of the visualization. The relationships may be displayed textually to enable user to navigate the menus using a keyboard, a text-to-voice converter, and/or pointers.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/745,000, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ILLUSTRATING A MENUOF INSIGHTS ASSOCIATED WITH VISUALIZATIONS,” and filed Dec. 29, 2003,now U.S. Pat. No. 7,900,160 which is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety into the present application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a system and method for generating menusand/or menu items that provide insights derived from visualizationsassociated with computer applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern computer applications provide sighted users with increasinglysophisticated visualizations of information through graphical userinterfaces (GUI). The visualizations enable ease of navigation forsighted users having full facility of a pointing device, such as acomputer mouse. The computer mouse may be used to intuitively interactwith the visualization. As a result, sighted users may quickly navigatethrough visualizations by clicking on various features illustrated inthe visualizations.

For example, in an email application, sighted users may discernrelationships among various email messages based on viewing informationin the visualizations, such as subject lines of the email messages. Inother situations, sighted users may discern relationships among variousemail messages based on thread groupings illustrated in thevisualizations.

These benefits associated with sophisticated visualizations ofinformation are not available to users that are unable to visuallyinspect the GUI (non-sighted users). Such non-sighted users may berestricted to using keyboard commands to navigate through applicationsrather than using pointing devices to navigate through thevisualizations. Alternatively, non-sighted users may rely on screenreaders to recite textual words displayed on the GUI.

For non-sighted users, applications may recite options based on requestsby non-sighted users for the computer to read aloud the menus and/ormenu items displayed in the GUI. The applications may literally reciteeach menu and/or menu item that is selected, such as, File, Edit, View,and Create. The non-sighted user may respond by reciting or entering anappropriate command to select a menu and/or menu item. Typically,non-sighted users do not speak the command. Rather, each command may beassociated with a number and non-sighted users may use the keyboard toenter the number that corresponds with the selected menu and/or menuitem. The application may then recite a selection of options associatedwith the selected menu and/or menu item. As a result, non-sighted usersare provided with options based on lists of menus and/or menu items thatdo not include relationships discovered from viewing information invisualizations, such as subject lines of email messages. Other drawbacksexist.

In another example, sighted users may be able to view a list of emailmessages and quickly identify which of the list of email messages arereplies to an email message that originated from a particular user. Incontrast, non-sighted users may be presented with a listing of receivedemail messages, wherein the email messages are provided in order ofreceipt. As a result, non-sighted users are not able to identify whichof the list of email messages are replies to an email message thatoriginated from a particular user. Various other drawbacks exist.

Other drawbacks exist with these and other known systems.

SUMMARY

Various aspects of the invention overcome at least some of these andother drawbacks of existing systems. According to one embodiment, thesystem comprises an email based system architecture. The systemcomprises a number of client terminals, each of which may be coupled toone or more servers (e.g., via a wired, wireless, and/or combination ofwired and wireless connection).

Each of the client terminals preferably includes at least a processor, adisplay, and at least one input mechanism (e.g., keyboard or other inputmechanism). Preferably, each client terminal includes an email programor the ability to access an email account via a network (e.g., theInternet). Other applications may reside on the client terminal, asdesired.

The software has various purposes. For convenience, each of the relatedsets of functions performed by the software will be referred to asmodules. These modules may be part of a single program or a collectionof related components that operate together. In some cases, not allmodules will need to be used or are desired to be used. The software ispurposefully designed to be flexible to permit modules to be added.Certain functions and features are enabled via a client side softwarethat is loaded onto the client terminals. Other functions and featuresmay be performed by software resident on server side software.

By way of example, the client side software may include one or more ofthe following (and other) modules.

A user interface module may be provided to enable a user to interactwith the application and to provide the display of various elements(e.g., email messages) and other information, tools and other options tothe user.

A relationship module may be provided to analyze criteria associatedwith elements to determine one or more relationships that exist amongthe various elements.

A menu generating module may be provided to generate one or more menusand/or menu items that display insights from the visualizations, whereininsights may be derived from the relationships determined by therelationship module.

A memory module may be configured to be in communication with one ormore of the user interface module, the relationship module, and the menugenerating module.

Visualizations may include all information that sighted users maydiscover from viewing an application interface. For example,visualizations may include inferences, insights, and othervisualizations that may be discovered from the user interface or otherrepresentations of the application interface.

The “elements” may include various types of elements and otherinformation. Each element may include other elements. According to oneembodiment, elements may include one or more email messages.

The user interface module may enable a user to view a listing ofelements (e.g., email message). The user interface module also mayenable the user to select the element in order to cause the contents ofthe element to be displayed in a presentation area.

According to one aspect of the invention, the client side email systemmay enable display of an Access drop down menu having options thatprovide insights regarding underlying information for the selectedelements. The options may include textual representations ofvisualizations that sighted users may infer from the applicationinterface. Access drop down menu may present a hierarchical menu ofoptions that the user may navigate. According to another aspect of theinvention, Access drop down menu may include one or more levels ofoptions.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, the one or more levelsof options may include a submenu that present qualities associated withthe selected element of the menu. For example, the submenu may listfamily members of the selected element and may include commands thatenable the user to review the selected element. According to one aspectof the invention, each level of the menu may provide textualrepresentations of the visualization. Furthermore, the menu may presentinformation that may be read out loud to the user and may enable theuser to navigate the menu, wherein the user may navigate the variousmenus and/or menu levels using a keyboard.

According to another aspect of the invention, options presented inAccess drop down menu may enable users to determine which elements arerelated to other elements. Access drop down menu may textuallyillustrate relationships between elements that are otherwise representedgraphically through a thread. Menu options also may include attributesassociated with selected elements, such as which elements may containattachments, which elements may be unread, or other attributes.

The invention provides users with an ability to view and navigate menusand/or menu items derived from visualizations, wherein the menus and/ormenu items include representations of relationships between elements.

In threaded representations of elements, consecutively positionedelements may attain their position from being received next in time orbased on sharing a particular relationship. For the case where theelements are positioned consecutively based on sharing a particularrelationship, these elements may otherwise have been separated by aplurality of elements if the listing was based on time of receipt.According to one aspect of the invention, a menu system is provided fordisplaying threaded representations using textual menus. The inventionenables users to navigate elements based on time sequence and/orrelationship sequence (e.g., parent, child, grandchild, etc.).Navigating elements based on the relationship sequence enables the timeassociated with when the element was created and/or received to becompressed, so that elements received weeks apart may be illustratednext to one another. Additionally, users may navigate elements based onattribute states, such as next unread, those with attachments, amongother attribute states.

In one aspect of the invention, the system may concurrently display thevisualization and the menu system. The menu system may provide many ofthe insights of the visualization, as well as some of the navigationalconveniences available via a pointing device. The structure of the menumay include options for displaying key insights of the visualization.The menu options may be made available to the screen reader.Furthermore, the structure of the menu may provide navigation optionsthat may be available through the use of pointers.

The invention may provide a hierarchical menu structure that enablesaccess to an underlying data model used in the visualization andprovides a way to include insights into the hierarchical menu structure(e.g., the number of elements that are unread). The hierarchical menustructure may be presented with options that represent insights (e.g.,number of unread, initial message, most recent message) and provideoptions for navigating a current context (e.g., previous relatedmessage, next related messages).

The invention has numerous advantages over and avoids many drawbacks ofprior systems. The invention enables display of visualizations in a menustructure. The invention enables generation of menus having options thatenable textual representations of visualizations. The invention enablesusers to determine relationships between elements and to display therelationships in a hierarchical menu.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention willbe apparent through the detailed description of the embodiments and thedrawings attached hereto. It is also to be understood that both theforegoing general description and the following detailed description areexemplary and not restrictive of the scope of the invention. Numerousother objects, features, and advantages of the invention should nowbecome apparent upon a reading of the following detailed descriptionwhen taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, a briefdescription of which is included below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system diagram accordingto an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary screen-shot of the application userinterface according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary screen-shot of the application userinterface according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart schematic of the menu generating featureaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system architecture 100 according toone embodiment of the invention. System 100 may include one or moreclient terminals 110 and one or more servers 130 that may be connectedvia a wired network, a wireless network, a combination of the two,and/or other networks. The one or more client devices 110 may includepersonal computers, personal digital assistants, cell phones, kiosks,portable computers, workstations, dumb terminals, Blackberry™, PalmPilot™, web-enabled mobile phones, or other types of client devices. Theone or more networks may include the Internet, an intranet, a PersonalArea Network (PAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network(WAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), or other networks.

Server 130 may be coupled to an external network 120 (for example, theInternet) through firewalls, routers, or other switching device (notillustrated). The terms “client” and “server” are used to refer to acomputer's general role as a requester of data (the client) or providerof data (the server). The system of FIG. 1 is provided for illustrativepurposes only and should not be considered a limitation of theinvention. Other configurations may be used.

According to an embodiment of the invention, system 100 may beconfigured to generate menus that provide insights to users (e.g., bothnonsighted and sighted), wherein the menus are derived fromvisualizations associated with corresponding computer applications. Inone embodiment of the invention, the menus may be textual menus. Whilethe following disclosure is directed to email applications, the conceptsand features described herein should not be restricted to emailapplications. Rather, the concepts and features described herein may bebroadly applied to any number of other computer applications. Forexample, the concepts and features described herein may be broadlyapplied to any number of other computer applications that usesophisticated visualizations to provide insights into the representeddata.

According to an embodiment of the invention, an e-mail system isprovided to include a server-side e-mail system 140 that may be storedon, loaded on to, and/or operated by server 130 and a client-side e-mailsystem 150 that may be stored on, loaded on to, or operated by a remoteclient 110. Server-side e-mail system 140 and client side email system150 may be used to transmit and/or receive one or more e-mail messagesfrom predetermined network nodes.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the e-mail systemdescribed herein may comprise a stand-alone e-mail system.Alternatively, the e-mail system may be incorporated into a number ofproducts relating to e-mail, instant messaging, discussion forums, orother multi-part communication systems or platforms. As an exemplaryillustration, one or more of the features and functionality of thee-mail system described herein may be incorporated into the LotusWorkplace™ 2.0 platform.

According to another embodiment of the invention, server 130 may be ormay include, for instance, a workstation running Microsoft Windows™ NT™,Microsoft Windows™ 2000, Unix, Linux, Xenix, IBM, AIX™, Hewlett-PackardUX™, Novell Netware™, Sun Microsystems Solaris™, OS/2™, BeOS™, Mach,Apache, OpenStep™, or other operating system or platform. According toanother embodiment of the invention, server-side e-mail system 140 mayperform various functions including processing e-mail messages, routinge-mail messages, or other functions. Server-side e-mail system 140 alsomay manage administrative tasks relating to security, creation andmaintenance of user e-mail accounts, or other administrative tasks.Furthermore, known server-side e-mail capabilities and/or functionalitymay be enabled by server-side e-mail system 140, as known and understoodby those having skill in the art.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, one or more data sources 160 may beoperatively coupled to server 130 and/or server-side e-mail system 140.Data source 160 may store e-mail messages, user e-mail accountinformation, or other information. Data source 160 may comprise anycombination of databases and other data storage or query formats,platforms, or resources. Examples of databases may include the Oracle™.relational database sold commercially by Oracle Corporation, as well asInformix™. and DB2 (Database 2). Other databases may also be used.Examples of additional data storage or query formats, platforms, orresources, may include a knowledge management (KM) repository, a searchengine, OLAP (On Line Analytical Processing), SQL (Standard QueryLanguage), a SAN (storage area network), and Microsoft Access™. Otherdata sources may also be used, incorporated, or accessed into theinvention.

According to an embodiment of the invention, one or more remote clients110 may be coupled over a network 120 to server 130 via communicationlinks 125. Communication links 125 may include wired; wireless, oroptical fiber, among other transmission mediums. Communication links 125may include any one or more of Internet lines, intranet lines, coppertelephone lines, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections, Digital DataService (DDS) connections, Ethernet connections, Integrated ServicesDigital Network (ISDN) lines, analog modem connections, cable modemconnections, wireless connections, and/or other communication links.

According to an embodiment of the invention, client-side e-mail system150 may serve as a “front-end,” enabling users at clients 110 to reademail messages, compose email messages, send email messages, organizee-mail messages (both sent and received) in various folders and/orsub-folders, maintain address books, launch programs to view e-mailmessage attachments, access additional e-mail features andfunctionality, and perform other features, as known and understood bythose having skill in the art. In operation, one or more users mayaccess the various features and functionality enabled by client-sidee-mail system 150 and/or server-side e-mail system 140 through aninterface. According to an embodiment of the invention, interface maycomprise a graphical user interface (GUI) 200.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, client-side e-mail system 150 may include oneor more modules, such as a memory module 152, a menu generating module154, a relationship determining module 156, and a user interface module158. Each of the foregoing modules may implement the various featuresand functions of the invention as described herein. Additional modulesmay be provided. One or more of the modules may be combined. For somepurposes, not all modules or data storage structures may be necessary.Those having skill in the art will readily appreciate that the inventiondescribed herein may operate under various system configurations.

According to an alternate embodiment of the invention, one or more ofmemory module 152, relationship determining module 154, menu generatingmodule 156, and user interface module 158 may be associated withserver-side e-mail system 140.

Memory module 152 may be in communication with one or more ofrelationship determining module 154, menu generating module 156, anduser interface module 158 to enable storage and/or sharing of data.Memory module 152 may be implemented using software and/or hardwaredevices. For example, memory module 152 may include magnetic diskstorage drives, optical disk storage drives, random access memory, andother memory modules.

Relationship module 154 may be provided to analyze criteria associatedwith elements (e.g., email messages), such as, threads, ancestralorigins, and other criteria, to determine one or more relationships thatexist among the various elements. According to an embodiment of theinvention, relationship module 154 may detect thread identificationsassociated with selected elements and may organize the elements based onthese thread identifications.

Menu generating module 156 may be provided to generate one or more menusthat display insights from the visualizations. According to oneembodiment of the invention, the insights may be derived at least fromthe relationships determined by the relationship module 154. The one ormore menus may include a hierarchical menu structure. According toanother embodiment of the invention, the one or more menus may includemenu items that are organized to enable easy navigation.

User interface module 158 may be provided to enable users to interactwith client side email system 150 and to display the data elements,tools and other features to users.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary layout of client side email system GUI200 that may be associated with a corresponding email application. Uponlaunching the email application, client side email system GUI 200 may bepresented to the user.

If the user is operating on-line, the client side email system 150 maycommunicate with the server side email system 140 upon launching of theemail application. According to an embodiment of the invention, clientside email system 150 may perform various functions. For example, clientside email system 150 may initiate sending and/or receiving emailmessages, among other functions. According to another embodiment of theinvention, server side email system 140 may perform various functions.For example, server side email system 140 may initiate sending and/orreceiving email messages, among other functions.

Client side email system GUI 200 may include one or more toolbars (202)and one or more panes (206) that illustrate several aspects and featuresof the email application. According to one embodiment, client side emailsystem GUI 200 may include one or more components, such as variouspanes, toolbars, and other components. For example, email system GUI 200may include at least Inbox pane 206. Other panes may be provided.

Toolbar 202, associated with client side email system GUI 200, mayinclude various buttons that provide pull down menus for enablingseveral operations to be performed by the email application. Forexample, toolbar 202 may include buttons for File, Edit, View, Actions,Options, Access and Help operations, among other operations.

Inbox pane 206, associated with client side email system GUI 200, mayinclude one or more portions, such as an inventory portion 209 and apresentation portion 210, among other portions. Inventory portion 209may be provided to organize and display elements 208 a-208 n, whilepresentation portion 210 may be provided to display content and otherinformation associated with selected elements 208 a-208 n.

According to one embodiment of the invention, inventory portion 209 mayinclude toolbar 204, which has several buttons (or other icons) forperforming various operations associated with the elements 208 a-208 n.For example, toolbar 204 may include operations that enable creating anew email message, replying to an email message, forwarding an emailmessage, deleting an email message, assigning email message to a folder,creating a schedule, printing an email, adjusting setting and/or otheroperations.

According to another embodiment of the invention, inventory portion 209may include elements that are organized and displayed based on criteria,such as date of receipt, among other criteria. For example, asillustrated by date bar 242, elements 208 a-208 n may correspond toelements that were received on Thursday, December 12. Furthermore, asillustrated by date bar 240, inventory portion 209 may be configured todisplay elements that were received on Wednesday, December 11. Inventoryportion 209 may be configured to simultaneously display any number ofdate bars. Other types of bars may be created for displaying theelements. For example, inventory portion may be configured to organizeelements based on the person that created the element, among othercriteria.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, inventory portion 209 may beconfigured to enable users to specify a format for displaying elements208 a-208 n. For example, elements 208 a-208 n may be displayedaccording to parameters that include columns for a date, who, a subject,an attachment, a file size, and other parameters, as illustrated inoptions bar 203. Elements 208 a-208 n may be organized and/or searchedaccording to these parameters. A selected element 208 a-208 n may bedesignated by highlighting or some other distinguishing feature.

According to an embodiment of the invention, inbox pane 206 may includepresentation portion 210 that displays content (e.g., a textual message)and other information relating to the highlighted (e.g., selected)element 208 a-208 n. As illustrated in FIG. 2, presentation pane 210illustrates content and other information for highlighted element 208 c,corresponding to an email generated by Ben Field's. For example,presentation pane 210 illustrates the content to include a textualmessage 220. Presentation pane 210 further illustrates that otherinformation may include one or more fields such as a From field 212, aTo field 214, a CC field 216, a date field 218, and/or other fields.Presentation pane 210 also illustrates that other information includes athreadmap 230 with summary information 235. Threadmap 230 may illustratewhether the selected element is associated with any children element,parent elements, siblings elements, or includes other familyrelationships.

Threadmap 230 may provide a number of insights that a sighted user maydiscover for the selected message. In one exemplary embodiment,threadmap 230 may trigger events associated with an Access drop downmenu 300, such as displaying menus, updating menus, or other events.Access drop down menu 300 may provide options that represent thevisualization of threadmap 230.

For example, threadmap 230 may illustrate visualizations regardingancestral relationships and whether or not the elements have beenreviewed, among other features. Visualizations include all informationthat sighted users may discover from viewing an application interface.Visualizations include inferences, insights, and other visualizationsthat may be discovered from the user interface or other representationof the application interface. Information regarding the visualizationsmay be indicated to users using different color schemes, differentgraphical representations, and other distinguishing features. Threadmap230 may illustrate that the presently selected element, illustrated asan open circle, is associated with a grandparent element, a parentelement and three children elements. The user may quickly discover,based on shading patterns of elements in threadmap 230, that grandparentelement and parent element have been reviewed (gray colored dots), whilethe three children elements (black colored dots) have not yet beenreviewed. Summary information 235 may be displayed when the cursor orother pointer is placed over a selected element (i.e., dot). Summaryinformation 235 may include features such as the time the message wasreceived, an identifier for the sender of the message, the firstsentence of the message, among other features.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary layout of client side email system GUI200 having the Access drop down menu 300 overlaid thereon. Access dropdown menu 300 may be displayed by selecting the “Access” button intoolbar 202. According to one embodiment of the invention, Access dropdown menu 300 may include a hierarchical menu structure. According toanother embodiment of the invention, Access drop down menu 300 mayinclude a listing of insights associated with the visualization of theuser interface.

Access drop down menu 300 may include several options 302-334 and350-354 relating to the selected email message 208 a-208 n. Options302-334 and 350-354 may be configured as textual interpretations of thevisualizations associated with the elements of inbox 206. Options302-334 and 350-354 may be dynamically generated and/or automaticallyupdated to represent the most current visualizations associated with theelements of inbox 206.

Access drop down menu 300 may include a number of elements in a thread,including an indication of how many were created by the user 302; anumber of new elements, including their status as unread 304; a numberof replies to the selected element, including their status as unread306; a number of ancestors to the selected element 308; a last unreadmessage in a thread 310; a next unread element in a thread 312; a nextunread reply to the selected element 314; a last unread reply to theselected element 316; a first element in a thread 318; a next element ina thread 320; a last element in a thread 322; a parent of the selectedelement 324; a grand parent of the selected element 326; ancestors ofthe selected element 328; a next element in a list 330; a previouselement in a list 332; a next unread element in a list 334; and/or otheroptions.

The options presented in Access drop down menu 300 may provide insightsregarding underlying information for the selected elements 208 a-208 n.The options may include textual representations of visualizations thatsighted users may infer from the application interface. For example, theoptions presented may indicate that there are three unread elements,that a selected element has three children and/or four peers becausethere were four children to the related parent. Thus, the options mayindicate that the selected element has siblings and provide the statusas read or unread, for example. Access drop down menu 300 may alsopresent options that identify all elements that were received inresponse the selected element. Furthermore, Access drop down menu 300may provide options for determining whether the user has reviewed allelements associated with the selected element.

Access drop down menu 300 may present a hierarchical menu of optionsthat the user may navigate. According to one embodiment of theinvention, Access drop down menu 300 may include one or more levels ofoptions. For example, when the user selects option 306, a submenu may bepresented to the user that illustrates the replies to the selectedelement. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the submenu may includesuboptions 350, 352, and 354. The suboptions may be listed by fields,such as, time of receipt, name, subject, read/unread element indicator,or other fields.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the submenu maypresent qualities associated with the selected element of the menu. Forexample, the submenu may list the children of the selected element sothat the user may understand that one of the children is unread, whereinthe indication that one of the children is unread may be communicatedusing a symbol and/or word that a screen reader may recite aloud.Additionally, the submenu may include a command that enables the user toread the unread element. As a result, each level of the menu may providetextual representations of the visualization. Furthermore, the menu maypresent information that may be read out loud to the user and may enablethe user to navigate the menu, wherein the user may navigate the variousmenus and/or menu levels using a keyboard.

According to another embodiment of the invention, options presented inAccess drop down menu 300 may enable users to determine which elementsare related to other elements. Access drop down menu 300 may textuallyillustrate relationships between elements that are otherwise representedgraphically through a thread. Menu options also may include attributesassociated with selected elements, such as which elements may containattachments, which elements may be unread, or other attributes.

An example of using threads for enabling communication among electronicmail and messaging users is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/334,087 (Publication No. 20030163537) entitled “Method andApparatus for Handling Conversation Threads and Message Groupings as aSingle Entity,”, filed Dec. 30, 2002, the entire disclosure of which ishereby incorporated herein by reference. It should be noted that theinvention is not limited to any particular mechanism for determiningthreads among a set of documents including email messages. Otherthreading services may also be used as would be apparent.

Menu options 302-308 from Access drop down menu 300 provide users withtextual menus for determining relationships among selected elements 208a-208 n. In particular, users may select among options to determine thetotal number of elements in a thread, including an indication of howmany of the elements were created by the user 302. The menu options alsoenable users to determine the number of new elements received, includingtheir status as unread 304; the number of replies to the selectedelement, including their status as unread 306; or the number ofancestors to the selected element 308 and the number of replies to theselected element, including their status as unread 306.

Menu options 310-322 of Access drop down menu 300 provide users withtextual menus for sequentially selecting elements based on a definedrelationship among the elements. For example, users may select the lastunread element in a thread 310, the next unread element in a thread 312,the next unread reply to the selected element 314, the last unread replyto the selected element 316, the first element in a thread 318, the nextelement in a thread 320, or the a last element in a thread 322.

Menu options 324-328 of Access drop down menu 300 provide users withtextual menus for viewing elements that are related to the selectedelements. For example, users may select a parent of an element 324, agrand parent of an element 326, or ancestors of an element 328.

Menu options 330-334 of Access drop down menu 300 enable users tosequentially select elements based on a specified order in which theelements were received. For example, users may select the next elementin a list 330, the previous element in a list 332; a next unread elementin a list 334, based on time of receipt, author, or other criteria.

The invention provides users with an ability to view and navigate menusderived from visualizations, wherein the menus include representationsof relationships between elements. Viewing elements based onrelationships enables compressing the time associated with when theelement was created and/or received. As a result, elements that werecreated and/or received months apart may be illustrated together even ifhundreds of non-related elements were received during the same timeperiod. For example, elements that may be related based on topic,sender, or other relationship, may be overlooked if the user waitsseveral days, weeks, months, or any other amount of time, betweenchecking receipt of the elements, because a large volume of elements mayhave been received during this time.

In threaded representations of elements, consecutively positionedelements may attain their position from being received next in time orbased on sharing a particular relationship. For the case where theelements are positioned consecutively based on sharing a particularrelationship, these elements may otherwise have been separated by tenelements if the listing was based on time of receipt. According to oneembodiment of the invention, a menu system is provided for displayingthreaded representations using textual menus. The invention enablesusers to navigate elements based on time sequence and/or relationshipsequence (e.g., parent, child, grandchild, etc.). Additionally, usersmay navigate elements based on attribute states, such as next unread,those with attachments, among other attribute states.

In one aspect of the invention, the system may concurrently display thevisualization and the menu system. The menu system may provide many ofthe insights of the visualization, as well as some of the navigationalconveniences available via the pointing device. The structure of themenu may include options for displaying key insights of thevisualization, such as, current node selected in thread, the totalnumber of element in the thread, and if any of the elements are unreadand newer than the current element, the number of children associatedwith the selected element and if any are unread, among other options.The menu options may be made available to the screen reader.Furthermore, the structure of the menu may provide navigation optionsthat enable use of pointers, such as, next unread element that is achild or grandchild of the current element, select the parent of thecurrent element, select the most recent element in thread, and otheroptions.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of a generalized method forimplementing the menu generating feature. In operation 400, the user mayselect an element to review. In operation 405, the user may initiate themenu generating feature using a menu item, toolbar button, a shortcutkey, or other selector. In operation 410, the options to be included inthe Access drop down menu 300 may be dynamically generated based onvisualizations. In operation 415, the dynamically generated Access dropdown menu 300 may be presented to the user in a format that displays therelationships. The dynamically generated Access drop down menu 300 maybe concurrently displayed with the visualization that is associated withthe application interface. In operation 420, the user may navigate theAccess drop down menu 300 using a keyboard, a text to voice converter, apointing device or other selecting device.

While the preferred forms of the invention have been disclosed, it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications may be made that will achieve some of the advantages ofthe invention without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. It will be apparent to those reasonably skilled in the artthat other components performing the same function may be suitablysubstituted. Further, the methods of the invention may be achieved ineither all software implementations, using the appropriate processorinstructions, or in hybrid implementations that utilize a combination ofhardware logic and software logic to achieve the same results.Therefore, the scope of the invention is to be determined solely by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system configured to present at least one menuhaving options that enable representations of visualizations associatedwith a computer application, the system comprising: an electronicdisplay; one or more processors configured to execute one or morecomputer program modules, the one or more computer program modules beingconfigured to: present to a user via the electronic display a list ofelectronic messages received by the user, receive selection from theuser of one of the electronic messages included in the list ofelectronic messages; determine, from criteria associated with theselected electronic message, one or more relationships between theselected electronic message and the list of electronic messages; andresponsive, at least in part, to reception of the selection of theselected electronic message from the user, concurrently present to theuser on the electronic display with the list of electronic messages, amenu that is separate from the list of electronic messages and displaysselectable commands that each comprise a corresponding descriptivelyidentified generic relationship between the selected electronic messageand another electronic message in the list of electronic messages,wherein a given one of the descriptively identified genericrelationships is selectable in order to operate the command itcorresponds to; the commands being associated with the electronicmessages determined to have the relationships to the selected electronicmessage that are generically identified by the displayed commands suchthat operation by the user of one of the commands results in the openingof the electronic message determined to have the relationship with theselected electronic message that is generically identified by theselected one of the displayed commands.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the electronic messages include text messages.
 3. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the electronic messages include email messages.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the menu is a textual menu.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising enabling the user to navigate the list ofelectronic messages based on at least one of a time sequence and arelationship sequence.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the genericallyidentified relationships comprise one or both of a next message inthread relationship and a previous message in thread relationship. 7.The system of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to navigatethe one or more menus using at least one of a keyboard, a text-to-voiceconverter, and a pointing device.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein themenu includes two or more levels of options.
 9. A system for presentingat least one menu having options that enable representations ofvisualizations associated with a computer application, the systemcomprising: means for presenting to a user via an electronic display alist of electronic messages received by the user, means for receivingselection from the user of one of the electronic messages included inthe list of electronic messages; means for determining, from criteriaassociated with the selected electronic message, one or morerelationships between the selected electronic message and the list ofelectronic messages; and means for presenting, the means for presentingbeing configured such that responsive, at least in part, to reception ofthe selection of the selected electronic message from the user, a menuthat is separate from the list of electronic messages is concurrentlypresented to the user on the electronic display with the list ofelectronic messages and displays selectable commands that each comprisea corresponding descriptively identified generic relationship betweenthe selected electronic message and another electronic message in thelist of electronic messages, wherein a given one of the descriptivelyidentified generic relationships is selectable in order to operate thecommand it corresponds to; the commands being associated with theelectronic messages determined to have the relationships to the selectedelectronic message that are generically identified by the displayedcommands such that operation by the user of one of the commands resultsin the opening of the electronic message determined to have therelationship with the selected electronic message that is genericallyidentified by the selected one of the displayed commands.
 10. The systemof claim 9, wherein the electronic messages include text messages. 11.The system of claim 10, wherein the electronic messages include emailmessages.
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein the menu is a textual menu.13. The system of claim 9, further comprising means for enabling theuser to navigate the list of electronic messages based on at least oneof a time sequence and a relationship sequence.
 14. The system of claim9, wherein the generically identified relationships comprise one or bothof a next message in thread relationship and a previous message inthread relationship.
 15. The system of claim 9, further comprising meansfor enabling the user to navigate the one or more menus using at leastone of a keyboard, a text-to-voice converter, and a pointing device. 16.The system of claim 9, wherein the menu includes two or more levels ofoptions.